Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Groundfish Catch Limits and Modifications to the At-Sea Monitoring Program

March 23, 2016 — We are seeking public comment on a proposed rule that would set 2016-2018 catch limits for all 20 groundfish stocks, adjust the groundfish at-sea monitoring program, and adopt several sector measures.

Catch Limits

The new catch limits proposed for all 20 groundfish stocks are based on stock assessments conducted in late 2015.

The proposed allocations for Gulf of Maine cod, Georges Bank cod, Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder, and witch flounder could limit the operation of the groundfish fishery. However, these reductions are necessary to prevent overfishing for these stocks, which are all at historically low levels.

Based on the proposed allocation increases for Gulf of Maine haddock (150 percent) and Gulf of Maine cod (30 percent), we are proposing trip limit increases and season extensions for the recreational groundfish fishery in a separate action.

At-Sea Monitoring

The 2016 fishing year (May 1, 2016, through April 30, 2017) is the first full year that sectors will be responsible for the costs of at-sea monitoring. We worked with the New England Fishery Management Council to develop a set of reasonable modifications to the at-sea monitoring program to make the program more cost-effective while still reliably meeting monitoring groundfish catch.

The proposed changes include:

  • Elimination of the coverage requirement for certain sector trips with low groundfish bycatch;
  • Adjustment of method  NOAA Fisheries uses to set the annual coverage level to use more years of discard information and stock health to predict coverage levels; and
  • Reduction of the target at-sea monitoring coverage level of 14 percent for the 2016 fishing year (down from 24 percent for 2015).

Read the release at NOAA Fisheries

REP. FRANK GUINTA: Federal regulations are sinking New Hampshire’s historic fishing industry

March 21, 2016 — On New Hampshire’s Seacoast, Granite State fishermen tell the tale of an out-of-control federal agency more dangerous than any sea monster.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration severely limits their catch of ground fish, flounder and cod that dwell in the Gulf of Maine. International competitors face fewer rules and supply most U.S. seafood.

Dave Goethel of the Yankee Fishermen’s Cooperative in Seabrook estimates that NOAA, which manages U.S. fisheries and the president’s climate change agenda, has reduced his catch by 95 percent.

He tells me many of his friends have quit or taken early retirement. Young Granite Staters interested in maritime careers no longer consider our state’s 400-year-old tradition.

What seaman nowadays would brave such treacherous regulatory waters?

On March 1, NOAA implemented fees around New England that will hit New Hampshire fishermen, mostly small boat operators, hardest. Only a few remain on the United States’ shortest coastline.

In her explanation to me, the agency’s chief administrator, Kathryn Sullivan, estimates that new fees for at-sea monitors could amount to $710 per day.

Read the full opinion peace at The Eagle-Tribune

SLADE GORTON: NOAA must monitor all fishing boats

March 4, 2016 — What is happening in the waters of the Northeast — the disappearance of cod, the warming of the ocean, and the gradual decline of a way of life that has been a staple of our economy and culture for centuries — is a national disaster, and it needs a national response. There is no silver bullet, but one critical step above all others can put the New England groundfishery on the path to recovery: Congress and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration must move immediately to monitor every boat at sea.

The recent arrest of New Bedford fishing boat owner and wholesaler Carlos Rafael, for allegedly evading federal fishing quotas, clearly indicates the need to protect honest fishermen, and our fish species, with better monitoring.

Unfortunately, the opposite is happening. NOAA is planning to reduce the number of observers when they are needed most, so that only 10 percent of boats will carry an observer on board. This action, driven by conflict over whether fishermen should pay for the monitoring program, will move the fishery in the wrong direction.

My interest in saving fishing in New England is both personal and professional. As a Gorton, I am the descendant of people who made their livelihoods at sea, catching and selling cod for generations. Slade Gorton & Co. is headquartered in Boston. As a former US senator from Washington state, I worked countless hours on complex policy questions meant to help the fishing industry.

Read the full opinion piece at the Boston Globe

As Onerous Fees go into Effect that Threaten New Hampshire’s Fishing Industry, Sen. Shaheen Provides an Opportunity for Industry Leaders to Send a Message to Washington

March 3, 2016 — The following was released by the Office of Senator Jeanne Shaheen:

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the lead Democrat on the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, invited two prominent industry leaders in the New England fishing industry to testify at a committee hearing today. Through her leadership on the committee, Senator Shaheen was able to make New Hampshire’s struggling fishing industry a major focus of Thursday’s hearing. James Hayward and Dr. Joshua Wiersma both spoke to the enormous threat that new federal at-sea monitoring fees and existing catch limits pose to New Hampshire’s fishermen. As of the first of this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is forcing New Hampshire fishermen to pay for an at-sea observer program, which monitors catch sizes for conservation purposes. The program, which was previously paid for by NOAA, will cost fishermen an estimated $700 per day on fishing trips.

“Fishing is an integral part of New Hampshire’s economy and heritage,” said Shaheen after the hearing. “Our struggling small-boat fleet needs relief from onerous federal regulations so New Hampshire’s fishermen can continue to make a living. Catch limits and at-sea monitoring fees threaten the very existence of our fishing industry. I’m very pleased that Mr. Hayward and Dr. Wiersma took the time to inform the Senate of their first-hand experience in our region’s fishing industry.”

During the hearing Mr. Hayward and Dr. Wiersma delivered a dire warning to the Senate.

Mr. Hayward: “Time is crucial and the road we’re headed down right now is not a good one. It’s pretty much the end is near and if things aren’t changed soon, at least to some extent, the fleets going to look a lot different in thirty six month. I can assure you of that.”

Shaheen: “Will we still have any fishing in New Hampshire if we don’t see some changes from NOAA?”

Mr. Hayward: “What will happen is the infrastructure will be gone and when that’s gone, the boats will leave. The ones that want to remain will be forced out because they will have no place to offload, market or sell.”

That interaction can be watched here.

At a separate hearing today on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Shaheen confronted the Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker with the testimony she had just heard from Mr. Hayward and Dr. Wiersma. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Their interaction can be watched here.

Background information on Senator Shaheen’s invited witnesses:

James Hayward, President of XI Northeast Fisheries Sector, Inc.

James Hayward is a second generation commercial fisherman. He is primarily a day boat gillnet fisherman operating in the Gulf of Maine ranging from 20 to 120 miles from port. He currently owns two fishing boats located in Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire. He owns and manages Heidi Seafood Services, the only federally licensed groundfish dealership at the State facility in Portsmouth Harbor.  He is president of the community’s groundfish sector, XI Northeast Fisheries Sector, Inc., as well as treasurer of New Hampshire community supported fisheries, New Hampshire Community Seafood.  He is also a board member of the Northeast Seafood Coalition and the Northeast Sector Services Network, and a member of the Seafood Harvesters of America.

Dr. Joshua Wiersma, Manager, Northeast Fisheries, Environmental Defense Fund

Dr. Wiersma has over 15 years of experience working with commercial fishermen in New England to improve their business conditions. His doctoral research, which examined the value of collaborative research to New England fishermen, led him to work directly for the ground fishing industry after graduation. Initially hired by the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership as a Fisheries Economist, he then worked for the Northeast Seafood Coalition as their Sector Policy Analyst where he helped to create the twelve Northeast Fisheries Sectors. He went on to manage New Hampshire’s two ground fishing sectors for the next five years.  Over this time, he also co-founded and was the Executive Director of New Hampshire Community Seafood Association, a successful community supported fishery cooperative that offers fresh, local, underutilized fish to the New Hampshire public through a type of fish share model. He is now the Manager of Northeast Fisheries at Environmental Defense Fund, where he continues to work with fishermen to shape effective fisheries management, to improve fisheries science and data collection, and to develop better seafood markets and other business opportunities.

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishermen need Mass. Attorney General Maura Healey’s help

March 2, 2016 — When touring the North Shore a year and a half ago, then-candidate for attorney general Maura Healey made it a point to mention her family ties to Gloucester, Newburyport and the region’s fishing industry. The implication was that, if elected, fishermen would have a powerful ally on Beacon Hill, or at the very least someone who understood the unique difficulties facing the industry.

Now, Healey is well into her second year as attorney general, and it is time to make good on her promise to protect the industry from federal overreach.

We are talking specifically about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s at-sea monitoring program, which places observers on fishing vessels to record details of their catch and make sure the federal government’s byzantine regulations are strictly followed.

The most galling aspect of the program, however, is the requirement that fishermen pay for their overseers. By some estimates, the cost could run as high as $710 a trip. Fishermen are already on a razor’s edge; forcing them to pay out and extra several hundred dollars a trip will undoubtedly kill off many of these small businesses for good.

Last week, state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante and state Sen. Bruce Tarr reached out to Healey, asking for her help.

“We request that your office explore all appropriate legal means to support our fishing families and ports through vehicles such as the current pending case,” they wrote in a letter to Healey, referring to a lawsuit filed by fisherman David Goethel in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire aimed at stopping the mandatory monitoring. “We are interested in Mr. Goethel’s plight because his situation is comparable to that of fishermen and Gloucester and the statewide fishing industry.”

Read the full opinion piece at Gloucester Daily Times

New England cod fishermen face new cost, fear future

February 29, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Some of New England’s embattled cod fishermen say they might go out of business because of a new cost the federal government is about to impose on them on Tuesday.

Fishermen of important commercial species such as New England cod and haddock must pay the cost of fishing monitors under new rules scheduled to take effect Tuesday. The monitors, whose services can cost more than $700 per day, collect data to help determine future fishing quotas.

The federal government had been paying the bill, but fishing regulators say there isn’t enough money to do so anymore because of other obligations within the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Fishermen, advocates for the industry and a host of New England politicians have said the cost will sink a fleet already struggling with tight catch quotas and dwindling cod populations. Some fishermen also say a cutback in fishing by New England’s fleet could make popular food species, including flounder, hake and pollock, less available to consumers.

‘‘Somebody’s got to catch it,’’ said Terry Alexander, a Harpswell, Maine, fisherman who is trying to manage the new cost. ‘‘We’re going to have to figure our way around it. The law is the law.’’

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

Monitor Costs Shift to Fishermen March 1

February 29, 2016 — Cape Ann lawmakers Bruce Tarr and Ann-Margaret Ferrante walked a thin line last week when they sat down and penned a letter to state Attorney General Maura Healey on the issue of at-sea monitoring.

The state Senate minority leader and state representative, respectively, wanted to enlist Healey’s support in the legal campaign to block NOAA Fisheries’ plan to shift the cost of mandated at-sea monitoring (ASM) to groundfish permit holders on March 1 and they knew they were racing the clock.

They also didn’t want to overplay their hand by pressuring Healey to follow a specific course of remedy, such as having Massachusetts become an intervening plaintiff in the ongoing federal lawsuit filed by New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel seeking to block NOAA Fisheries’ plan to transfer the responsibility of funding ASM to the fishermen as of Tuesday.

“We didn’t want to pre-suppose any method of support,” Tarr said. “We just believe that this plan represents such an injustice that it would be a serious mistake not to look at every option and we wanted to make sure the commercial fishing industry is represented.”

So, Tarr and Ferrante carefully worded their letter, asking the state’s senior law enforcement official to explore any available legal avenue for supporting the industry effort that Goethel’s lawsuit has emerged to most poignantly represent.

“We request that your office explore all appropriate legal means to support our fishing families and ports through vehicles such as the current pending case,” they wrote, referring to the Goethel lawsuit that was filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, New Hampshire. “We are interested in Mr. Goethel’s plight because his situation is comparable to that of fishermen in Gloucester and the statewide fishing industry.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Fishing Monitor Program Suspended and Will Start Again March 1, When Boats Must Pay Costs

February 25, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries exhausted its budgeted money for at-sea monitoring of Northeast fishing sector groundfish boats on Feb. 16 and has suspended all required monitoring until the fishing industry assumes monitoring costs on March 1.

The details of the suspension, which has not been publicly announced by NOAA, were contained in a Feb. 19 declaration filed by NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard in the federal lawsuit New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel of Hampton filed against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Commerce and officials within those federal agencies.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, New Hampshire, seeks to block NOAA from transferring to the fishing industry the responsibility of paying for contracted at-sea monitoring (ASM), charging it will economically destroy what is left of the Northeast groundfishing fleet.

Late last fall, NOAA said it anticipated retaining sufficient money to continue paying the ASM costs until March 1. That changed, according to Bullard’s declaration, on Feb. 16 when NOAA realized it had not sufficiently updated the weekly reports used to determine the number and cost of observed trips on sector groundfish boats.

“On or about Feb. 16, the (Northeast Fisheries) Science Center became aware for the first time that recent updates did not include information for all completed trips … and that committed government funds to pay for ASMs had been exhausted,” Bullard wrote in his declaration.

NOAA Fisheries, he said, then decided to cease until March 1 the requirement and deployment of monitors on sector trips selected for coverage.

“Due to a lack of funds, those trips have been issued waivers from the requirement to take on ASM,” Bullard wrote. “This decision is based on our commitment that sectors be provided adequate notice of the onset of industry funding so that necessary accommodations, planning and contracting can occur.”

Bullard stated the agency is confident the temporary suspension of observer coverage will not jeopardize NOAA Fisheries’ ability to estimate discards by sector vessels — one of the primary tasks of the ASM program.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Groundfishermen worry looming $600 cost shift could hurt industry

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — February 24, 2016 — New England fishermen say that they have already been gutted by limits set by the National Marine Fisheries Service over how much of certain species of groundfish remain off our shores. Now, a looming cost shift is threatening the industry entirely.

Back in 2000, there were about 100 groundfishermen in New Hampshire, using small commercial boats catching the cod, haddock and flounder that we equate with New England seafood.

In 2016, most have switched over to lobster and scallops. Many of them were forced out by limits and quotas.

David Goethel is one of only nine groundfishermen left in the state. But he’s worried something else could wipe out groundfishing completely.

“I lost 95 percent of my cod quota in the last four years and I’m fishing for things that are less value and then I’m going to have to pay for these monitors on top of that. It simply does not add up,” said Goethel.

Read the full story from WMUR